This was a very thought provoking read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Many thanks to Independent Book Publishers Association and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

THE GRAVITY-ASSIST TECHNIQUE - Dalene Flannigan

LOTS OF CONNECTIONS - 3.5 stars

Plot - 3.5 stars - Ella is dealing with her life now that her husband has died. In her attempt to come to terms with it and start fresh, she becomes attracted to a man she hasn't met, just seen from afar. Eventually there's a surprising turn of events that pushes her to come to terms with this imaginary relationship and move on.

Writing - 3 stars - Flanagan drew me in to the story fairly quickly with some interesting actions at the beginning. But I'll admit that I was very confused for quite a long time. It took me a while to figure out that Aaron, Kevin's cousin, was actually Ella's husband, all grown up. And that Ella was the friend they both knew from college. I had to keep going back to the beginning to get the names and connections straight. Perhaps that was my misunderstanding, but it didn't seem to be made clear.

Format - 3.5 stars - I always enjoy a book that is divided into different points of view because it seems the best way to allow the reader to get to know the characters better. We first meet Ella and see her life through her eyes--dealing with the death of her husband and actually the development of her relationship with him from the beginning. She's now trying to deal with her widowhood, letting go of her grown daughter, and moving on with her life. Then we see things through Kevin's eyes, watching his relationship develop with Aaron and Ella, and his wife Beth. Gradually we understand the relationships between them all. There was sometimes a abrupt change from one character to the next, with very short chapters. They were clearly marked, but it sometimes took me a few sentences to readjust my thinking to the other's POV.

Characters - 3 stars - We meet Ella first, but actually it seemed as though we got to know Kevin better. Ella is first met as an adult, a widow, as she's dealing with her life after the death of her beloved husband. She keeps to herself, is trying to begin again. But Kevin we meet as a boy when his uncle dies and his cousin comes to live with them. So we've grown up with Kevin, so to speak, and he seems much more familiar. I had a hard time liking either of them, really. First of all, Ella seems to have gone through life oblivious to the undercurrents around her and blind to the feelings of those who love her best. She is a worrier and overthinks everything. I'll give her a pass, though, since she's still struggling with the loss of her husband. Kevin, as well, leaves a lot to be desired. He always seems to be struggling with his conflicting feelings towards Ella and Beth. His emotions are further complicated by his close relationship with Aaron and his guilt over his death. The underlying drama was both the good news and the bad news. At some times, it seemed like high-school angst--Do I/should I care about him? Who do I love the best? What should I do? Etc. But at other times, there was some good emotional meat, with the characters being torn between different scenarios, trying to decide the best way to handle a complicated situation to cause the least amount of heartache.

Title - 4 stars - Clever title which refers to a phrase used in space travel for bouncing a satellite from one planet's orbit to another. Plus Kevin and Aaron had a love of space exploration since they were boys--this was one of the first things that brought them together to be friends as well as cousins. It's also a good description of the people relationships as well--coming into each other's orbits, bouncing off one another, growing/changing.

Cover - 4 stars - Love the cover. Not only is it beautiful and eye-catching, but I liked how the image of a female swimmer combines two important parts of the story: the feeling that Ella has that she's moving forward, sometimes overwhelmed with life plus the initial look she has of the Naked Swimmer.

Overview - 3.5 stars - This book had good forward movement, keeping my interest throughout. The characters were (eventually) clearly defined, and their relationships were both complex and close. The whole book was about connections and the overlapping lives between the main characters. Although I wasn't a huge fan of either Kevin or Ella, I could feel for them as they struggled to face and deal with some difficult situations.